The world reacted with universal condemnation to the widely reported, openly anti-Semitic address delivered by Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to a recent Fatah conference. He so blatantly said the quiet part out loud that a series of anti-Israel individuals and organizations, from Americans for Peace Now to James Zogby, rushed to distance themselves from Abbas with strident condemnations of their own.
No one, however, should be fooled. Abbas did not become an anti-Semite overnight; he simply revealed the attitude towards Jews that has governed the Palestine Liberation Organization from the outset. The sooner we accept this, the fewer lives will be lost by continuing to pursue delusions such as the Oslo Accords and the “two-state solution,” that depended, from the outset, upon an Arab partner able to control and govern an independent state alongside Israel with peace and mutual respect.
In reality, the expressions of horror are manufactured and overdone. This is hardly the first time Abbas has stepped into open Jew-hatred and Holocaust denial, so no one can honestly express surprise.
In an interview in 2015, Abbas not only claimed that all of Jerusalem’s holy sites belong to the Arab nation, but that the very presence of Jews defiles them. “Al -Aqsa and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are ours,” he said, “and [the Jews] have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet.” He never denied his role in planning the Munich Massacre at the Summer Olympics in 1972; when questioned, he obfuscated, arguing that the Israeli treatment of Palestinian Arabs is like “50 Holocausts.” Apparently, he finds college entrance exams more daunting than gas chambers.
For purely political purposes, the world gave him a pass on those racist outrages. But now that he expressed the inherent anti-Semitism of his outlook so explicitly, the world can no longer pretend to ignore them. What they are trying to hide from, instead, is their obvious lessons.
Abbas’ rant, and the defense of its content from his immediate leadership team, show us that this has been the attitude of the Palestinian Authority from its inception – meaning that the “Two-State Solution” that the PA claimed to embrace was a hoax all along. You cannot live side by side in peace with people whom you hate for breathing. The problem is not, and never was, a matter of “returning” territories or sovereignty of land. Nothing short of a One-State Solution, meaning a “Palestine” ethnically cleansed of Jews, will appease them.
Every objective student of history already knew this to be true. The Hebron Massacre of 1929 wasn’t about Jewish control of land, but about Jews breathing. The Arab League’s “momentous massacre” of 1948, which miraculously failed to materialize, was no different. Similarly, the Sinai Campaign of 1956 and the Six-Day War of 1967 were launched by the Arabs when there were no “Occupied Territories,” unless, of course, one considers all land controlled by Jews as inherently stolen or occupied. And, of course, the Arabs did not start a war on the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, to demand in 1973 that merely East Jerusalem, Hebron, and Judaism’s holiest sites be once again Judenrein. That was their goal for the entire region, in each and every case; but such inconvenient facts have always been too obvious to be allowed to enter the discussion.
The mask has been pulled off their face for all to see. Thomas Friedman, The New York Times, the entire left, and indeed all the Two-State Solution advocates that lived in a messianic delusion must finally wake up and smell the long-stale coffee.
Friedman has been particularly egregious. He has become the High Priest of the leftist world that despises almost anything Israel does, especially if it has been from a right-winged government. President Biden leans on Friedman for his sage advice. The New York Times is all too happy to publish his drivel. But here’s the thing: He has been proven to be consistently wrong!
He was a great supporter of the Oslo and Gush Katif debacles. He was euphoric over the Arab Spring in 2011, believing it would bring stability to the whole Middle East. He even called for Tashir, the epicenter of the uprising, to “come to Jerusalem” and teach Democracy to Prime Minister Netanyahu at the time.
Recently, he referred to the upcoming civil war in Israel. A few years ago, he predicted that the settlements on the West Bank will be short-lived, as the Two-State Solution will evolve. He cannot dare swallow the fact that Netanyahu, together with President Trump, achieved the most successful and sweeping peace accord in the region’s history. His being wrong just about 100 percent of the time is stunning. But the fearless leader still lives. Maybe now there will be a chink in his armor. I doubt it. Facts do not impact the debate.
The goal must still be peace – but not through surrender to enemy. We should have already learned that from the disastrous results of Oslo I, II, and III, plus the disaster of the Gush Katif withdrawal in 2006. Now, just maybe, thanks to Mahmoud Abass’ revealing words, the illusions will get out of the way.
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.
